Cross MyEr
by Idle Stripe
Summary: "I look like a target dummy!" A look into one of Cloud's strange fetishes involving black eyeliner.


_**-Cross My...Er...-**_

_**-A 'Final Fantasy VII' drabble-**_

Seven-thirty crawled into Tora's bedroom in the form of weak sunlight thanks to a winter's sun, the curtains having already been thrown open by Cloud when he'd awoken that morning to complete some early-morning deliveries. Spending the night at the bar hadn't been all that bad a thought after all; she was still in one piece and there had been no major disasters at the orphanage that she'd been phoned about. Rune was a pretty good babysitter when she set her mind to it.

As the orphanage owner shifted, her eyes fell on a strange mark on the palm of her hand. As she sat up, she examined it closely – it was a black cross no bigger than the diameter of a materia orb. Rubbing her finger over it, she discovered that it had been written on her skin in something easily removable; eyeliner, closer inspection told her. Raising an eyebrow, Tora slowly climbed out of bed and shuffled down to the kitchen where Tifa was busy ushering Marlene and Denzel around for school.

"Morning, sleepyhead!" she called cheerfully, waving as the two children were picked up by Vincent, "You look unusual this morning."

"I have crosses on the palms of my hands." Tora stated flatly, taking the cup of coffee offered to her.

"Maybe you should go shower..." the martial artist said cryptically.

"Why?"

"Because...here." Tifa held out a small mirror she kept in the first aid kit to the orphanage owner so she could look at her reflection. Tora opened the mirror and nearly dropped it at what she saw. More of the black crosses decorated her face, in particular on her lips, nose, cheek and jaw line. Moving the mirror down, she saw even more crosses up and down her neck, along her collarbone, and over her shoulders. Giving herself a once over, the orphanage owner saw still more crosses on the tops of her feet, all over her stomach and (how did it get there?) even one over the scar on her hip.

"What the hell is this?" she exploded, "I look like a target dummy!"

"So that's why Cloud offered to get me a new eyeliner pencil..." Tifa mused out loud.

"What?"

"Nothing! Let me take some photos as evidence and then we'll go about getting these off you."

Cloud put Fenrir away and headed inside, removing his goggles in the process and putting them down beside the back door. All the deliveries had been successful, and that left him with a whole afternoon and evening to himself – and Tora, if he could convince her. But what to do...

"Hello, Cloud."

The blond looked up at his partner standing in his bedroom, her arms folded over her chest and one hand holding onto some pieces of paper shaped as photos. She looked a little ticked, but he was sure that it would pass.

"Hey Tora." he replied casually, resuming his moving and wondering why he'd stopped in the first place.

"You have got to have the weirdest fetishes that I have known about, and believe you me, Reno has some pretty weird ones." Tora unfolded her arms and held out the photos, Cloud's blue eyes taking in the fact that they were of the crosses he'd drawn on her while she was asleep last night.

"I take it you didn't like my graffiti, then?" he asked, handing the photos back.

"It's not so much the fact that I didn't like it, but if you'd have just asked me you could've done it while I was awake." The orphanage owner's tone had suddenly become soft, "These are your favourite places to kiss me, aren't they?" A red flush crawled over Cloud's cheeks, annoyed that he'd been found out so easily. Tora giggled as he tried to force the pink colour away from his face, and kissed his cheek in comfort.

"I like your sentimentality." she said softly.

"Thanks for getting the photos," The blond wound his arms around his partner's waist, "I like to keep track of these things."

"That was Tifa's idea. And my statement still stands: you have some pretty weird fetishes."

"So your lip balm fetish isn't counted, then?"

_**DISCLAIMER: The disclaimer applies to the characters and settings of the 'Final Fantasy VII' series – SquareEnix – and Tora – me.**_


End file.
